From my biased point of view I'd have liked to hear them leaving all vocals to Lu. Still I won't be able to resist this even if I end up deciding it's curate'segg-ical.
Ben's stubble has sprouted alarmingly.
Maybe a duobolical album by Lu & Ben would be good next - I'd like to hear 'em with less blues guitar & more saz, cumbus, mandolin and bouzouki

Chris Potts wrote:From my biased point of view I'd have liked to hear them leaving all vocals to Lu.

I agree, and Lu doesn't have as large a share as I was hoping for. The greatest disappointment is their version of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. They did a fantastic version of this during their Radio 3 session, incredibly intense, but this one sounds safe and even cautious, losing most of the suspense and angst. Such a pity.

As far as I'm concerned, this applied to Blue Blokes 3 too. I'd have been ecstatically happy for Lu to have taken the lion's share, but let's just say that organising Lu to actually get songs to performance lift-off is . . . harder than herding slippery jelly cat things. There comes a point when you have to make the record or the label goes into hair-wringing mode. But put Lu in the wiggy instrumental improviser seat (as in "well, we may not get a rehearsal as I'll be in Stanistan until the night before the gig - but it'll be alright on the night") and he's unmatchable.

The two of them did a quite brilliant acoustic duo version of the old Mustaphas hit "Si Vous Passez Par La" with Lu singing at a birthday party of mine a couple of summers ago - Charlie, you were there and heard it - but could I persuade them to do it on on the BB3 record or tour? Could I f***! You're dealing with strange obstinate wild free spirits here, which is what makes it all the better to take part in. I suspect I'll be meeting Justin at Lu&Ben-aholics Anonymous meetings somewhere down the line!

If you thought that Uncle Lu couldn't be in any more places or bands at once (in August he was Mekoning in Canada, doing something in Russia - I think he mentioned Yat Kha or Albert - came briefly home for a weekend for us to do a BB3 festival gig, then went to Norway for godknowswhat, and is about to head to one of those Stans again, Tajikstan maybe), this in today's Guardian! http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/0 ... -image-ltd

Dominic wrote:I had forgotten (or maybe never knew) that Lu had been in PiL 1986-88.

If you can find a copy of fRoots 202, April 2000, Lu was interviewed and had some hair-raising tales to tell about his PiL experience. I remember giving him a piece of paper and asking him to jot down all the bands he played or had played in. At that point he remembered

Since then . . . Raz3, Blue Blokes 3, Triaboliques all current . . . and still Mekons, BB's Blokes, now PiL again. I wonder what else I'm not aware of! As we said at the time, have cumbus, will travel!

EDIT: As noted below, I wrote 3MA instead of Raz3 above originally, due to a senior moment brought on by having a stinking cold acquired from . . . Lu!

Perhaps it's because there's not enough Lu, as others have said. But for whatever reason, it's an oddly unengaging record.

I say oddly, because I admire all three individuals concerned musically and know them all personally as very engaging human beings. But this is one of those disappointing collaborations which adds up to far less than the sum of its constituent parts...

Nigel w wrote: I admire all three individuals concerned musically and know them all personally as very engaging human beings. But this is one of those disappointing collaborations which adds up to far less than the sum of its constituent parts...

Yes, this would be hard to say to the participants face-to-face, but sums up my disappointment too.

When found myself trying to work out what was missing with this album I eventually concluded that it needed a bit more mud and indeed a bit more twilight in the production.

So much effort has gone into expertly recording all those twangy strings (and beautifully recorded they are) that there's ended up being a distinct lack of dirt and therefore atmosphere. I felt outside the music looking in, when I really wanted to feel immersed in it. I think they should have taken a lesson or two from Tom Wait's methods of production and just kicked the songs around the yard a bit more before doing the final mix.

But having said all that, there's still at least half the album which works well enough to warrant repeated plays, and if you crank it up loud enough it does come to life.